Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has come up with an initiative to accelerate National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) among the industry members. This is in tune with the mandate from Government of India that all organisations, be it in Services or Manufacturing sector, having 10 or more employees, must participate in the National Apprenticeship Program.

To enable Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Skilling India’, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India, has made Industry friendly amendments to the Apprenticeship Act to expand the scope across manufacturing and services sectors and ensure successful implementation of the National Apprenticeship Promotional Scheme (NAPS).

Under the scheme, Government of India will share 25% of the prescribed stipend subject to a maximum of INR 1500/- per month per apprentice with the employers. In addition, Government of India will also share the training cost subject to a maximum of INR 7500 per apprentice with the Basic Training Providers.

As per MSDE’s letter to CII, all organisations that fall under the scheme have to pledge their support to enrol apprentices by registering on the Apprenticeship Portal and signing the Letter of Intent (LOI). Scanned copy of all letters of intent must be submitted, on your organisation letter head.

Given this background, CII has created an Online Apprenticeship Forum, to facilitate easy understanding of the amendments and support compliance. The Forum has been formulated to ensure swift adoption by providing complete hand holding for member’s participation, enrolling of apprentices and addressing queries.

You write to CII at “apprenticeshipforum@cii.in” or call 080-46596677 (operational between 9:30am 6:30pm from Monday to Saturday)

Benefits of Apprenticeships for the industry

Apprenticeship programs are a great way of addressing the skill gaps in the industry workforce. Investing in apprenticeship is a cost effective way of growing talent, with funding from the government available to employers.There are several benefits for employers and they should encourage apprenticeship in their companies. Listed below are a few of them:

Apprenticeship reduces cost to the company since you have the manpower but they are paid much lower as compared to regular employees. The attrition rate is lower and the cost of training and recruitment also reduces.

It helps in reducing the skill gaps. One of the biggest challenges faced by the employers is finding skilled people and apprenticeship helps face that challenge.

Apprentices can be trained the way you want based on your needs and requirements under your own guidance which helps you secure the manpower for your company’s future as opposed to hiring people who have been trained elsewhere and may not be suitable for the roles in your company.

Apprenticeship leads to more satisfied and dedicated employees in the future. They work more sincerely knowing they are going to get hired after their training.

Apprenticeship leads to the existing staff being able to move to higher and more important roles as they no longer have to be occupied with the basic tasks which take up a lot of their time. These tasks can be delegated to the new apprentices who are being trained

Apprentices are usually young, fresh out of college and bubbling with fresh ideas and they can bring a very positive and fresh energy into the company. This helps in growing the business by implementing some of these ideas with a new approach

A company that attracts apprentices increases its reputation as it is showing its commitment towards Corporate social responsibility thereby ensuring better prospects of getting good quality staff as well as customers.